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Morning Updates: The incredible story of two prisoners’ subterranean escape

Prisoners David Sweat and Richard Matt crawled through this hole in the prison cell wall to escape. Darren McGee/Office of The Governor via NYT

By Eric Levenson @ejleven

July 21, 2015

2 minutes to read

Good morning, Boston. Donald Trump surged to an early lead in the Republican race, the Shawshank Redemption-like escape from a New York prison, and the rest of the news you need to know today.

Trump takes a beating, but not in the polls: Sen. Elizabeth Warren added to the criticism of Donald Trump on Monday, calling him a “blowhard’’ for saying John McCain was not a war hero. “But I noticed that the other Republican presidential candidates immediately jumped on him for that and good for them,’’ Warren said. “But where were they when Donald Trump shot off his mouth about Mexican-Americans? Where was he then?’’ (MassLive) Meanwhile, Trump staked a significant early lead in a 2016 presidential poll. “Trump was the favorite of 24 percent of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. … Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who announced his candidacy a week ago, is in second place, at 13 percent, followed by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, at 12 percent.’’ (The Washington Post)

The incredible story of how two New York prisoners escaped: “Night after night for months, David Sweat slipped through a hole he had sawed at the back of his cell in the Clinton Correctional Facility in northern New York. He would plumb the catacomb-like tunnels beneath the prison, where he was serving a life sentence for murder, searching for an escape route, confident that the guards would have no idea he was gone because they were asleep. Then he would return to his empty bunk.’’ (The New York Times)

What it’s like to try out for Jeopardy: “It’s not enough to know Hannibal Hamlin was vice president under Abraham Lincoln, or that Northanger Abbey is the shortest of Jane Austen’s six novels. That helps, of course, but Maggie Speak, the show’s tireless contestant producer, and her team of talent scouts are also looking for players with personality: a Boston accent, an amusing back story, a goofy grin. That’s what makes Jeopardy! compelling television. ‘We want somebody who makes you want to watch them,’ says Speak.’’ (The Boston Globe)

Is a decision on Tom Brady’s suspension ever coming? “Don’t bother targeting the next, possible date that makes sense for the NFL to take the world hostage with ruling on the Brady appeal. Predicting when the next shoe will drop is folly on par with guessing what the final punishment will be in the first place. Whenever. Whatever. However Goodell pleases. He can’t win, but nor can he retreat, setting up a fascinating endgame, albeit one that we’ve tired of greatly.’’ (Boston.com)

Happy birthday, Gisele!“July 20 marks the day of creation of Gisele Bündchen, model, wife, mother, and perfect human. She is now 35, and though she remained a silent face on the runway for many of her years in the public eye, she made up for lost time in so many outspoken instances. … Here, a timeline of Gisele’s finest moments, a toast to a woman almighty.’’ (Boston.com)